Greenall's Gin is a brand of gin that dates back to 1761, and which is distilled by the distillers G&J Distillers, formerly G&J Greenall’s, in

Warrington Warrington () is a town and unparished area in the borough of the same name in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England, on the banks of the River Mersey. It is east of Liverpool, and west of Manchester. The population in 2019 was estimat ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, England. Originally founded by Thomas Dakin, the distillers are now part of the Quintessential Brands group. The company claims to be England's oldest gin distillery.

History

Thomas Dakin built his distillery on Bridge Street in

in 1760, although poor grain crops that year meant that he did not distil his first gin until the following year. Thomas Dakin and his descendants continued to own and operate the distillery until 1860, when it was leased to Gilbert and John Greenall, who also owned Greenall's Brewery in nearby St Helens. In 1960 the distillery moved to a larger adjacent site, but much of this was destroyed in a fire in 2005. Three years later the distillery moved to a site in

Birchwood Birchwood is a town in the Borough of Warrington, Cheshire, England with a population of 11,395 (as at the 2001 census). Although physically and administratively part of Warrington, the civil parish council has named itself a town council. Hi ...

, Warrington where Greenall's is still produced today. In the meantime, Greenall's Brewery had become Greenall Whitley & Co Limited. The company ceased brewing in 1991 to concentrate on running pubs and hotels, and subsequently became the

De Vere Group De Vere is a hotels and leisure business, which until the late 1990s was a brewing company known as Greenall's. It used to be listed on the London Stock Exchange and was once a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History Greenall's Brewery was f ...

. They sold Greenall's Gin for £7 million in a private equity-backed

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management-, and/or leveraged buyout became noted phenomena of 1 ...

in 2011, and the same year the Quintessential Brands group was founded and took over. At that time the distillery produced more than 50 per cent of the UK's

own label A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...

gin and vodka, including products for

Tesco Tesco plc () is a British multinational groceries and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Welwyn Garden City, England. In 2011 it was the third-largest retailer in the world measured by gross revenues and the ninth-largest in th ...

Sainsbury's J Sainsbury plc, trading as Sainsbury's, is the second largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom, with a 14.6% share of UK supermarket sales. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane, London, the company wa ...

and

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, as well as

Bombay Sapphire Bombay Sapphire is a brand of gin that is distilled by the Bombay Spirits Company, a subsidiary company of Bacardi, at Laverstoke Mill in the village of Laverstoke in the English county of Hampshire. The brand was first launched in 1986 by En ...

for

Bacardi Bacardi Limited (; ) is one of the largest privately held, family-owned spirits companies in the world. Originally known for its Bacardi brand of white rum, it now has a portfolio of more than 200 brands and labels. Founded in Cuba in 1862 an ...

. In 2013 Bacardi transferred production of Bombay Sapphire to their own newly created distillery at

Laverstoke Laverstoke is a village in north west Hampshire, England. In the early 18th century, Laverstoke Mill was purchased by the Portals, a family of Huguenot immigrants from Languedoc who were establishing a successful paper making business. Henry de ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

. As part of this transfer, two of Greenall's stills were moved to Laverstoke.

References

{{Gin distilleries in the United Kingdom 1760 establishments Companies based in Warrington English distilled drinks Gins Greenall family